Monday, July 25, 2011

For better or worse....

My amazing wife in the Alaskan jungle before the rain at mile 6 of 12. (Holly is 5'2" in hiking boots)

NYX is my 86lb mutt and camp guard, trust me you don't walk  in unannounced.

Erebus briefly claimed the soft spot on the cabin floor.

For some reason I thought trail runners would be the way to go, mother nature thought otherwise.

.454 Casull my ever present trail companion


Holly and I took the summer off from Wedding Photography and turned our attention to our much neglected camping supplies this summer. Forest Service cabins are located throughout Alaska and are a great back country deal at $35 a night. But, they are hard to book and you need to make reservations 6 months in advance due to their popularity, and are therefore committed to using them long before a weather report is issued. I had rented the Aspen Flats cabin on the upper portion of the Russian River for the only still weekend available back in February. It sits roughly midway between Cooper Lake and the Russian River campground which is a 21.5 mile one way trip. This is some of the densest bear country in the world and we would hike it at the beginning of the sockeye run when the foliage is the highest and thickest. We had hiked the first four miles before from the Russian Campground and the trail is 4 feel wide and gravel, how bad could this be? We voted to start at the Cooper side and the first 4 miles were decent trail with only thick clouds of bugs to really worry about, then the trail started to deteriorate rapidly and fill up with bear scat. At first it was waist high brush and the occasional pile of bear turds, then we were seeing them every hundred feet or less. (To anyone in the area that day, it was me yelling "Sasquatch" every minute or so, I don't say "Bear" unless there is one.) By this point the foliage is 8 feet tall and completely obscured the trail to the point we couldn't tell if we were on it or not, except for the occasional marker in the trees. Still not bad, at least it wasn't raining.....I actually said that about 10 minutes before it started to rain. At least we only had 4 of 12 miles left in the poring rain in the dense undergrowth stepping over piles of bear scat constantly. Holly got to practice her clapping and I my yodeling, which confused my dogs a might bit. We reached the cabin after 5 hours of hard hiking and quickly set about warming up and getting our gear hung up to dry.

If you ever wonder if you married the right person this is the exact moment you find out. You are soaked, cold, tired, hungry and surrounded by unseen bears next to a salmon stream and only halfway down the trail and not one complaint from my much better half. In fact I think she had more fun than I did to be honest. Some mint tea, chicken fajitas and a warm fire were our evening while it kept raining blew a gale outside, that cabin was our Ritz Carlton. The next morning brought a low fog and constant mist that would turn to rain at mile 2 of 9.5. The trail had great views on the way out, at least that is what the guide book says, I'm sure if you could see over the flora they are great. We didn't see a bear the whole weekend as a result of our noise making, hounds and pure luck. I can't say we had alot of fun, but covered a good bit of ground and can say that we prefer other trails.

Me at the end of 22 wet miles, my .454 Casull in its holster on my chest as always. 

NOTE: If you carry a gun in Alaska, carry the largest caliber you can shoot accurately. Practice often with the loads you carry. If you commit to shooting a bear, follow through and kill it. If you don't others are instantly in danger. DO NOT CARRY A SMALL CALIBER and think it is better than nothing. My wife and I carry both spray and my Casull in addition to our two dogs on leash in bear country. Stay safe, all of Alaska is bear country.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Sunday Morning Coming Down

A fisheye view of a rainbow trout fighting the fly fisherman.

Mike releases a small rainbow after telling me he was going to catch it not a minute earlier.

Mike Malone chats with kids out for a paddle on a slow Sunday afternoon on Irene Lake, Alaska

So this is what I looked liked to the fish.
Float tube fishing in Alaska has always been a green shrouded zen like experience for me. I could always escape the crowds of the Kenai and just float around and get a bit closer to everything.  Spotting rainbow trout far below me swimming by oblivious to my intent (an they ignored my fly for the most part) was always worth a drive. But, life got busy and float tube and hand built flyrods started collecting dust more and more. My obsession with a slow Sunday on a quiet lake refused to gather dust. Although it wouldn't help the dusty 6wt, I had to get back into those still waters, but this time my goal was just to share my obsession with the world. Mike Malone from Education Concepts (professional fly fishing instructors, yes it is ok to be jealous of that title) was kind enough to share his quiet Sunday with me. Fishing was a bit slow, but the conversation was lively and weather pleasant. I paddled along side his float tube in my trusty 7mm O'neil wetsuit towing my Canon 5D in an Ikelite housing along with a GoPro HD mounted to it (I'll do a write up on my kit later on this year).  We managed to rustle up a few rainbows and lots of green water to tread. If you have never gone fishing in a float tube, go make it happen and get a bit closer to the fish and further from the crowds.

We have made plans for our next venture where hopefully we can get into a few bigger fish and more story telling. It is fishing after all, and even if you are treading cold water for hours on end you have to tell tales.

Good Health and Travels,
David Hayes

PS Not in the photos but present was my incredible safety officer and wife Holly kayaking around the lake and getting her Zen time in as well.  And if you get the title of this post then you can pick the music for a road trip in my truck.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Greed is Good

Daryl Pederson owner of D&M Photography, image by David Hayes 


BIG DISCLAIMER: Daryl is not the subject of this post, the image simply went with my idea this week. He is in fact a generous person that I have known and worked with for over 10 years, but more about him in another post.


Greed
I am a greedy devil, probably the greediest person you will ever meet. But, my greed is not for those items that can be held. My greed is for experiences, and time for that is the only thing worthy of greed. Time allows us to learn, to experience and to travel beyond our own bonds. I weep in a library because I have not a thousand lifetimes to learn all that there is held in that one building. Give me enough time to learn all the worlds libraries. Beyond that even, I want enough time to accomplish all those thoughts held within mankinds tomes. To listen to the symphony is not enough, I want to fell the trees, saw the planks, shape the instruments and write the music, to be performed in a structure built by my own two hands. Not to declare “Look at my work” but to say, “That is how it feels to create”. This is greed in its truest most dangerous form. For alas, I will not have the time to accomplish a mere pittance of these things. And furthermore, I would run great risk of missing out on the most valuable learning of all, the experiences of those around us.
Many a parent has missed a lifetime trying to secure the future. Like all things in life we must strike a balance, because we dont have a thousand lifetimes, just this one fragile uncertain life. My greed must drive me to succeed but not blindly forward without regards to life itself. Everything you have in life can be taken from you, what we do with our time is the only thing we can control. Many an empty mansion could be traded for a full happy apartment. I want more, more than Gates, more than Jobs, more than Trump, because they have no more time than you or I. Their caskets may be gorgeous in the end but the results are the same. I am greedy, I make no apologies. I want a thousand lifetimes. 

Good Health and Travels,
David 
Image Info: 100 ISO TMax, Graflex Speed Graphic with Aero Ektar 172mm F2.5. Shot at 1/250 @ F 2.5

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Over my head

Two weeks ago I ran 6 Mile Creek near Hope, Alaska with Nova Guides from Chickaloon. With moderate water levels we  ran all three canyons without using oar locks. This means that everyone in the boat has to paddle and pay attention. I wanted to shoot video with my Gopro HD helmet cam in addition to my 5D for still photos but the guides put this idea down like a wounded horse. In my Alaskan experience if somebody does something for a living, you listen to them. Boy, I'm glad I did. As you will see in the slide show we didn't quite make it through the last set of Class V rapids in the boat. Scary as hell to be in water that big without a boat. I had two thoughts in my mind, "I always wondered what this felt like, I've seen it on TV" and "CLOSE YOUR MOUTH STUPID." The second was the most profound statement I have had in quite some time. We all got plucked out of the river by the safety cataraft and were none the worse for wear. NOVA Alaska is a world class group of guides, if you are looking to shoot some rapids or see the back country these are your people. www.novalaska.com

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